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5 Reasons Why the Boston Red Sox Will Win the 2013 World Series
5 Reasons Red Sox Win 2013 World Series
What a turn around it has been for the Boston Red Sox this year. Last year under Bobby Valentine this team won only 69 games. This year, under the direction of John Farrell they have the best record in baseball at 92-59, and with a comfortable nine game lead in the division, you will certainly see the Sox back in the postseason in 2013.
The question is how far will they go? This is a team loaded with talented bats and arms that has the depth and skill to make a deep postseason run for sure. It just depends on whether or not they will be able to make a run in a deep American League. It is shaping up to look like the Oakland Athletics and the Detroit Tigers will be the other two division winners with the two Wild Card spots still completely up for grabs.
While each of these teams have their obvious strengths, I don’t think there is a more complete team in the American League. Their potent offense has carried them all year long as they lead the league with 791 runs scored. They are also one of the hottest teams in baseball right now, winning eight out of their last ten to match that of the A’s.
The Tigers have Max Scherzer and Miguel Cabrera and won the pennant last year, but quite frankly none of it will matter come October. Here are five reasons why the Sox will win the 2013 World Series.
Zach Slotter is a contributor for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @zslot6, Like his Facebook page and add him on Google.
5. Lineup Balance
For the first time since the Manny Ramirez era the Sox have a very balanced lineup with David Ortiz and Jacoby Ellsbury from the left side, Dustin Pedroia and Mike Napoli on the right, and Daniel Nava and Jarrod Saltalamacchia from both sides of the plate. This lineup is dangerous 1-9, and there’s no one I would want to pitch to with guys on base.
4. Postseason Pedigree
To name a few, Pedroia, Ortiz, Napoli and Victorino all have postseason and specifically World Series experience in their lineup. These are guys that have been here before and are proven postseason performers. All four have over 90 postseason at-bats in their career, and Victorino has 30 RBI while Ortiz has slugged 12 home runs. A lineup with this much experience is scary come October.
3. Patience at the Plate
The most amazing thing that the Red Sox do is take a ton of pitches and get on base. They lead the league as a team with 551 walks. Individually, Pedroia, Ortiz and Napoli are all in the top 25 in all of baseball. When it gets colder out and pitchers are well up over 200 innings for the season, it is important to see as many pitches as possible, and the Sox have no problem doing that to get more base runners.
2. Healthy Arms
In terms of starting pitching, the Red Sox have a ton of arms at their disposal and they are all relatively fresh. Only Jon Lester has thrown over 200 innings this year and the other five starters are all under 175. This includes Clay Buchholz, who has looked extremely sharp in his two starts after returning from the DL. A postseason rotation of Lester, Buchholz, Jake Peavy and John Lackey is scary enough before you throw in that they have Ryan Dempster and Felix Doubront to provide long relief and solidify their bullpen.
1. Lights Out Closer
The last five World Series winners all had one thing in common; they had a closer who simply dominated in the postseason. The two that come to mind are Sergio Romo last year (four saves, 10.2 IP, 1 ER) and Brad “Lights Out” Lidge, who was perfect in 2008 including seven saves in the postseason. Even though it took a while the Red Sox have their very own lights out guy, and his name is Koji Uehara. Since being named the closer on June 21, Uehara has given up only one run in 37.2 innings and has gone 4-0 with 18 saves in 20 opportunities. That is flat out ridiculous. The Red Sox have the arms to get to the end of the game where Uehara can certainly shut the door.
